Audi Team ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Posted by Zahari Mladenov on 12 June 2008, 10:07 AM

Ingolstadt/Le Mans – In Le Mans city center on Tuesday, thousands of spectators followed Technical Scrutineering of the three Audi R10 TDI prototypes with which Audi Sport Team Joest will compete in next weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours. This means the Audi squad is ready for one of the greatest challenges in motorsport.

The three Audi diesel sports cars were engulfed by the fans and the nine Audi drivers were more than busy in writing autographs in bright sunshine. Especially sought after, as usual, was the signature of Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen who will pilot the #2 Audi R10 TDI together with Dindo Capello and Allan McNish.

Local hero Alexandre Prémat revealed a new helmet design at the Technical Scrutineering: The Frenchman's helmet displays the layout of the Le Mans track including the names of the corners. Prémat starts at Le Mans together with Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller in the #3 Audi R10 TDI.

Last year's winners Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner will race with starting number 1 as the defending champions. Emanuele Pirro was presented with numerous frogs from his loyal fans as a gift which is supposed to bring him luck. The Italian collects frog characters.

"The fact that the Technical Scrutineering is taking place at Le Mans as early as Tuesday is one of the peculiarities of the race," says Frank Biela who has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans together with Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner two consecutive times at the wheel of the Audi R10 TDI. "Le Mans is the most important race of the year. In no other race are you spending such a long period in the paddock and have so much time to think about everything. The pressure builds up slowly and gets bigger every day. At the start on Saturday it is bigger than in any other race."

First Qualifying at Le Mans takes place on Wednesday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. and 10 to 12 p.m. The race starts on Saturday at 3 p.m.

2008 Audi R10 and Team images available on "photos" tab and then by clicking on "Motorsports" on left navigation.